Dolphins` Monica Gears Up For A Chilling Sunday

MIAMI -- Equipment manager Bobby Monica was reading the report the Dolphins ordered from a New Jersey weather bureau and it was enough to make you shiver:

``Very cold, blustery day expected Sunday at Giants Stadium with strong northwest winds and a wind-chill factor in the teens. Game time temperature about 40 degrees. It might hit 41 by halftime.``

Brrrr. Monica dug deep for the Dolphins` thermal socks, pants and gloves. In front of him was a shipment that had come in Friday morning from a company that makes polypropylene upper-body shells.

``Feel this stuff. It`s real thin, but it will keep the heat in. I think this is going to be perfect,`` said Monica.

This is one of the major parts of Monica`s job in the second half of the season, with the frigid likes of East Rutherford, N.J., and Buffalo, N.Y., awaiting the Dolphins.

``It`s good to have this weather report, but I can`t go by this. I have to update the weather myself every day,`` he said.

``One guy told me no snow. Another guy said, `yeah, it`s going to snow.` You don`t know. You have to be prepared for anything.``

On Sept. 23, when the Dolphins played the New York Giants on the road, it was a beautiful fall afternoon. The temperature was 63 degrees.

But Monica took no chances. He packed the cold-weather gear. Just in case.

And he has to suit the whims of 45 players, some of whom bring that macho I- don`t-need-anything-extra to the field and others who think hell is cold, not hot.

Receiver Mark Duper hates the cold. Former Dolphins receiver Scott Schwedes used to break out in a rash in cold weather.

``A lot of it is in your head,`` said Monica. ``I grew up in Jersey. My parents still live there. When I first came down here 10 years ago and we went back up north for a game late in the season, I used to tease some of the guys who didn`t like it. Heck, I played in that weather in the winter.

``Now, I go back up there and I`m freezing like the rest of them.``

Advances in cold-weather clothing have come with the new synthetic fabrics. Every February, Monica goes to Atlanta to an annual sporting goods convention that is the biggest of its kind nationally.

That`s where he gets a line on new materials or clothing.

Ask him, after all these years, what he would invent to combat the cold weather and he doesn`t hesitate with his answer.

``My idea has already been done,`` he said. ``Domed stadiums.``

-- Cornerback J.B. Brown, lowest-paid starter on the team at $82,500, could have a contract extension in the next two weeks. The Dolphins and agent Mike Merkow have been negotiating by phone for several weeks and Merkow said Friday he would fly to Miami before the Raiders game (Nov. 19) to meet directly with Charley Winner, the Dolphins` chief negotiator. Winner would say only that the club is open to extending Brown`s contract, but would not rewrite it before it expires. Brown is in the final year of a two-year deal.

-- Veteran receiver/punt returner Pete Mandley was in for a workout Friday and it was probably more than just one of those file-and-forget look-sees the Dolphins give free agents every week.

Mandley, 29, is an experienced receiver and punt returner and his workout comes at a time when rookie Tony Martin is in a slump doing both jobs.

Since his 35-yard punt return against the New York Jets in Week 5, Martin has returned eight punts for only 27 yards (3.8 average) and last week fumbled away a punt in the first quarter against Phoenix.

Martin did have a 13-yard return against the Cards in the third quarter, but it was nullified by personal foul on Louis Oliver.

Martin has caught four passes for 34 yards in the last three games.

Mandley, who had 58- and 44-catch seasons for Deury update: LB John Offerdahl (toe) and CB Tim McKyer (knee) did not work Friday, but both are expected to play Sunday.